This invention relates to systems and methods for gathering and refining web browsing information, to be delivered as mobile content to a mobile wireless terminal, preferably using the best available delivery mechanism.
Internet browsing from stationary terminals such as a personal computer has become very popular and is essential to attract people to view value-added services on the internet. Mobile operators would prefer a wireless terminal device to be the most popular means by which the public accesses the internet. However, a majority of the internet services available today to the stationery terminal user cannot easily be delivered to the wireless terminal user for a variety of reasons including network capacity issues, slow web services, web pages designed for personal computers, rather than wireless terminals, as well as limitations on the browsing capabilities of the wireless terminals themselves, much to the dismay of wireless terminal users and operators alike.
For example, a wireless terminal user attempting to view medium to high density graphical content in real-time over a traditional wireless network will quickly become frustrated by the time delays resulting from traffic on the cellular and/or Internet networks, as well as the time delays imposed by the web service from which the user has requested the content. While traditional mobile operators have repeatedly attempted to deliver web-based content in real-time over a wireless network, they have been largely unsuccessful at minimizing the foregoing delays and ameliorating user frustration.
Therefore, there exists a need for a system and method whereby a mobile user can browse web-based content with ease from a wireless terminal.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there are provided a system and method whereby a user""s browsing content habits can be tracked in a database allowing updates of content associated with the more frequently visited and related content (FVARC) sites to be downloaded to a user""s wireless terminal. The user has the option of having the content updates linked to a delivery class, e.g., real-time delivery or, alternatively, delivery at a time when the cellular network is least utilized.
Briefly, in the preferred embodiment, the user browses a data network such as the Internet using a wireless terminal. A Mobile Browsing Booster System (MBBS) maintains a user database (e.g., a personal network cache) of the user""s viewing habits. A browsing agent within the MBBS analyzes those habits using data mining techniques to determine the most frequently visited content and related content (e.g., URL""s and web pages, whether whole or xe2x80x9cstripped downxe2x80x9d versions thereof). Periodically, the MBBS forwards the FVARC to a selected Mobile Content Delivery (MCD) System for delivery to the mobile terminal. The details of the MCD system are described in co-pending application Ser. No. 09/944,443, filed Aug. 31, 2001, a copy of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The MCD system acts as the scheduled delivery engine that calculates the predetermined time window during which the FVARC is to be delivered to the wireless terminal. The time window of delivery is calculated preferably taking into account such information as a delivery class specified by the user of the wireless terminal, the wireless network usage and relative capacity, as well as the terminal type and capabilities thereof. Depending on the message criticality, the FVARC can be scheduled for delivery during minimal network usage traffic time periods for least expense unless delivery in real-time was requested by the user. During the scheduled delivery time window, the MCD system delivers the FVARC to the wireless terminal. The process of monitoring and analyzing viewing habits and gathering FVARC for delivery to the wireless terminal is repeated with a user-specified frequency to ensure that the user"" terminal cache has the latest FVARC for local browsing.
The system and method of the present invention permits a wireless terminal user to browse FVARC stored in the terminal""s local cache memory in a time-efficient manner without a wireless network connection. Thus, the wireless terminal user can read a large number of web pages quickly using offline browsing, instead of reading the pages over a network with unpredictable response times. Moreover, when combined with the MCD System, the present invention allows service operators to maximize their use of the wireless network air interface time resulting in a reduction in cost to send content updates over the wireless network. Thus, the present invention introduces a mechanism by which mobile operators can provide wireless terminal users with web-based content that previously could only be viewed at stationary terminals, resulting in a cost reduction of data services, thus enabling more services to become available and attracting more users.
Other and further aspects of the present invention will become apparent during the course of the following description and by reference to the attached drawings.